Kingdom
by TrollToez
Summary: My first story! This is kind of the first draft, but I'm posting it anyway. Tatiana and Kaity are determined to find out what secrets are hidden from the people of Silverbrook. But once they find out just what they are dealing with, can they face the challenges that lie ahead?
1. Chapter 1

There was a kingdom once. A great kingdom ruled by a king and queen, who were adored by all the land. The king was kind but governed with a strong hand. People knew not to mess with his land. The queen was quieter, but when she did speak she could move mountains if she wished. The queen was popular with her citizens as she visited the market and became good friends with many in her free time. No one could have seen it coming.

The king and queen had no children. The queen was infertile, you see, and they had no intention of adopting. When asked about the matter of their predecessor, the king would shrug it off with nothing more than "We shall see when the time comes." They did in fact see when the time came, as horrible as that time was.

It was a calm evening like any other when it happened. Dusk was falling on Silverbrook: shops were closing, children being ushered in for the night, and the business of the castle was finally settling down. The guards switched positions and the night watchmen settled in for another uneventful night as always. And it was, for a while. It was a few hours later that they saw a shadowy figure making their way up the steps. The person kept their head down, hidden under a cloak. This, combined with the tall and lean body, gave them almost a specter-like appearance.

"Halt!" cried one of the men by the front gate, "What business do you seek with the king?"

This produced a laugh from the stranger. "Do not fear what my business is, for it is none of yours. Just let me pass and no harm will come to your precious royalty."

The guards knew better than to let the suspicious character through, so they sent them away with a warning to never return. The cloaked stranger did though. They came back night after night asking the same simple question, only to be met with the same reaction. Finally, the guards had had enough. When the person came back on the fifth night, the guards took them by the arms and dragged them inside to the throne room.

By now, the king and queen had been informed of the disturbance, and sat waiting on their respective thrones. The stranger was thrown to her knees and had their arms chained behind them by the guards that had been waiting inside. The hood that had been hiding their face was ripped off to reveal what appeared to be a teenage girl with short but wild brown hair. Once again, the stranger laughed quietly. "_Thank you._ Now was that really so hard to let me in?"

It was the queen who finally broke the silence after the unanswered question with one of her own, "What do you seek here, traveler?"

The girl looked up for the first time with a crooked grin. "Well, you see my queen, it's not what _I_ seek. My… companion wanted me to ask something for you. She happens to be terribly shy at times, so I was sent as a spokesperson. Although, I suppose technically it is asking about something that we both want…"

Growing impatient with the young girl's avoidance of the question, the king stood up and walked over to her. Towering above the suspicious teen, he glared down as he let out a shout that echoed through the room. "_Tell us what you wish to say or I will have you thrown in a cell. I will not let you be a threat to my wife any longer!"_

The girl's grin became dangerous and her eyes shone with a dark light. Her head tilted slightly to one side as if she was closely studying the kind's reaction. "Do I frighten you? A small girl against the all mighty king? It's like a mouse in front of a lion. Never mind that though, it appears we have more important things to discuss. All my companion wanted me to nicely ask was if you would allow her, and I by that extent, to take your place as rulers of the kingdom." She spoke with such a calm assurance, as if she were only asking for a sip of water. The king took a step back, confused and unnerved by the statement. He should have been relieved at the fact that this seemed like a simple teenage prank that had gone too far. He couldn't assure himself with that thought though. Something just wasn't right.

The stranger's eyes shifted past him and locked onto the queen. The king let out a low growl and drew his sword from his side. The guards sensed the impending danger and shoved her fully to the ground. "What's going on here? What are you plotting, felon?!" A guard cried out. She didn't have time to answer before chaos erupted in the throne room.

The king yelled out a warning to the queen as he ran towards her, sword drawn. She turned around the see the man pouncing from behind the king's throne at her at the exact moment the guards did. Before the king got there, a short guard darted forward. In one smooth movement, she had pushed the queen behind her, drew her sword, and pierced the oncoming assassin in the chest. He let out a choked cry as his momentum only cause the blade to slide deeper in. The girl kicked him off of her sword to the floor, and finished the job.

The two men still restraining the mysterious girl yanked her head back as they prepared to execute her on the spot for assisting in attempted murder of the queen, but they never got the chance. The king ran the remaining space to hold his wife, as they both thanked their savior profusely. The blonde girl glanced over her shoulder at the queen as if checking that she was unharmed, and then whipped her body around and slit the queen's throat straight to the bone.

It took a moment for the reality to sink in before the guards were now moving to grab her while the king wailed in pain and anger. With his sword still drawn, he lay the body of his beloved wife down and swung with all his might at her killer. The guards were too confused to even try and figure out what was going on, but they knew they needed to protect the remaining ruler. The guards holding the brunette glanced at each other, not sure if they should hold the unarmed intruder or go after the armed blonde with the other three guards. Finally they decide on the latter, and with one final shove and a "DON'T YOU MOVE AN INCH," they rushed into battle.

The rogue guard was now fighting six to one, although with the raging strength that the king had she might as well have been fighting against an army. They forced her back as she expertly dodged and blocked their onslaught, until she was pressed to the corner of the room. Still, she showed no fear as she confidently continued to fight. The small spaces they had pressed into made it near impossible for all six men to swing effectively without hitting each other.

It seemed like the end for the murderer as she quickly wore out. Suddenly, a guard let out a cry that was quickly cut off and fell to the ground. A small throwing knife lay buried to the hilt just below his neck. It only took a moment for another to fall beside him. The remaining three lost focus in the blonde as they were now being attacked from both sides. The king, however, was still swinging wildly at her as tears and spit flew from his face from each enraged battle cry. His attack was unrelenting, but sloppy and he hardly landed any hits against the opposing blade. There was only one more guard facing her now that the other two were going after the unknown girl again. Her size proved a huge help when she dropped to the ground and pounced through the space between them to open ground.

They only had time to turn around before the king's throat was slashed as well and the guard was suddenly missing an arm. He screamed in pain before he was silenced forever and she turned around, panting, to watch the other teen. The stranger had downed one of the two guards, and had the other bleeding heavily and pressed against the wall with a blade at his throat.

"Let him leave," the blonde wheezed, "Let him warn the others that there are two new rulers now." The brunette glared at the man, who began nodding fiercely in agreement.

"W-who should I t-tell them reigns n-n-now?" He stammered weakly through his tears.

The teen guard stepped forward while cleaning her blade off on her cape. "Tell your men that they are to serve us with absolute submission. Any resistance will be met with immediate punishment of the most severe kind. Tell them that Tatiana and Kaity watch over this land now."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

In the days that followed, panic and confusion poisoned Silverbrook. The guards didn't know what to do or who to trust, so they reluctantly followed the duo out of fear. The citizens knew only that the former king and queen whom they had adored had been murdered. Wild rumors were spread of demons and wizards and curses. There were no riots yet, because no one was actually sure of who exactly they were fighting against; there had been no word of what had happened except for one announcement.

The morning after Tatiana and Kaity took the throne, a single servant had opened the door only enough to step out. He looked at the few people already gathered to speak with officials with a terrified and hopeless look. He paused only a moment before shouting with a wavering voice, "_The king and queen are dead! Two new rulers have defeated them and taken the throne. The castle is now closed!"_

He had then darted back inside and sealed the main gates. None of the staff in the castle had been seen in four days, and nothing more had been learned. The villages had cautiously gone through their daily motions, watching and listening for anything that hint that complete disaster hadn't fallen upon the kingdom. They mourned their old rulers and prayed for the new ones, unsure of which rulers the rest of the army and officials sided with.

Meanwhile, in the castle, the teens started to sift through the problems that existed there. Well, they did when they finally awoke. No servant had the nerve to bother them, so Tatiana and Kaity slept late and tended to their minor wounds from the fight.

It was nearing eleven, and Tatiana remained fast asleep in the large bed they shared in the king's bedroom. A few kisses and whispers of her name later she finally groaned and opened her eyes. "Time to work, love" Kaity cooed with a snicker. The brunette handed her a platter with breakfast… and a second platter piled high with scattered papers. Tatiana let out another groan and buried her head back into the pillow. She only gave in and sat up when Kaity waved a strip of bacon in front of her nose.

The blonde girl frowned as she sifted through the papers. She ate as Kaity explained.

"I started taking rough notes and what we need to do, what we need to have, who we need to speak to, etcetera. I really have no freaking clue what I'm doing and I'm still in shock that our plan actually worked at all, much less as well as it did. I figure that the counselor will be our best bet for most of this stuff. She was supposed to be really young, like our age young, and incredibly smart."

"She'd have to be to get that job so young. She is basically the k- um, our right hand man," Tatiana mumbled around a piece of toast. She was silent for a moment before she sighed softly. "What are we doing, Kaity? We're teenagers trying to rule a damn kingdom!"

Kaity's gaze dropped from her girlfriend's face to the papers on the bed. She seemed to collect her thoughts before she looked back up. She forced herself to sound optimistic when she weakly smiled and said, "Well that's why we're meeting with Madelyn. We're doing this to save the entire kingdom. We may be stupid for trying to do this on our own, but what we're trying to do is definitely _not_."

Tatiana leaned against Kaity's side and glanced over her partner's notes again. "I can't read your crappy handwriting, you know," she laughed.

The other teen faked looking insulted as she protested. "I wrote it at eight thirty this morning while you got to sleep in! I had to deal with the people that work here that are all pissing themselves every time we so much as blink!"

They settled into easy conversation and got ready for the meeting at noon. Having closed up the castle, they only had the clothes on their backs. Still, they tried to look at least somewhat respectable. This girl had worked for the king and queen; she had to be the real deal.

Noon approached and they wandered through the maze-like halls to the throne room which had long since been cleaned up. Kaity sat in the king's throne while Tatiana was in the queen's. At exactly twelve o'clock, a short girl with long brown hair strode into the room with purpose. She stood before them with perfect posture and a stony face. She took quick inventory of the two in front of her with only the slightest twitch of an eyebrow in response to what she saw. Madelyn shifted the enormous pile of scrolls under one arm and adjusted her glasses with the other. The three teens studied each other carefully, none of them saying a word.

Finally, Tatiana broke the tense silence by clearing her throat, "So you must be the counselor, Madelyn, then? I heard that you have been a counselor for many years, and you have trained for it since childhood?"

The girl stood up even straighter if possible, and allowed a bit of pride to show in her voice, "That's right. Ever since I could read I have been memorizing every fact or Silverbrook and learning how to be a counselor from my father, who had the job before me. Despite my age I am more than capable of this job, and pardon my rudeness but I must ask if you are as qualified as I?"

The rulers stared in shock at the girl before them. No other person at the castle had had the nerve to speak to them in any way other than nervous agreement and submission. This teen certainly wasn't scared like others, or at least she wasn't showing it. Kaity squinted at Madelyn before giving a small nod of approval. "I suppose that's an appropriate question to ask the people that you will be working for, and that will be ruling your kingdom. To be honest, I'm not really sure that we are, and that's why we will need your help. You will be in charge of most of the normal kingdom workings so our people don't become suspicious. Meanwhile, Tatiana and I will be working on very important and private matters."

The counselor had visibly relaxed when the other two hadn't reacted with anger, but as Kaity continued to speak it had quickly turned to disbelief. "You _murdered_ our rulers, _took over_ our kingdom, _took responsibility _for the duties of running a kingdom, _and you don't even know how or want to do it!?_" By the end of her sentence, Madelyn was basically screeching in fury. Understandable, but the teens still had to get her on their side, and fast.

Tatiana got up from the throne and walked slowly towards the counselor. Even though Tatiana was shorter, Madelyn shrunk away slightly. Her stony faced façade was fading fast. "Listen, Madelyn. What do you know of the secret that this kingdom has?"

She looked everywhere but their eyes when she responded, "I'm not sure what you are talking about miss, this kingdom has some small secrets of course, but nothing we keep from the people if that's what you mean. Especially no big ones that we would keep from our citizens because we love them and will protect them at all costs from all enemies, no matter if they know of them or not. Oh, why did I say that? Me and my big mouth I didn't mean-"

Kaity silenced her rambling with a single finger. "So, you do know of _the_ secret then?"

Madelyn looked defeated by the question, and unable to lie anymore, nods sadly. Tatiana takes her hand carefully. "I would assume that you, being so close to the king and queen, are among the very few that do."

Another small nod. "Good, because that is what we are here to fix. We aren't here to rule the land, but rather save it. This was the only way we could figure out how to do it," Tatiana spoke softly to calm the tense air in the room. It seemed to work to some extent, and the fear left the counselor's face.

"I… I suppose I could help you then. I'm still incredibly furious about what you have done, I mean you _killed them_ and so royally _screwed everyone _no pun intended and oh I'm babbling again I'll shut up now. Fine, I'm allied with you nutjobs and I'll do whatever I can to save Silverbrook, but _only_ because I want to keep my people safe," She huffed, crossing her arms.

Satisfied with that answer, Kaity got up and stood with the other two, "So it's a deal then. We can do this if we work together. And as a ruler, my first official act will be to stop the rumors, although maybe it wouldn't be so bad if they thought we _were_ demons…"

"_Kaity_"

"Ugh, fine. We can do it the boring way."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Hundreds of people gathered in the castle's courtyard to hear the new rulers speak the next day. Tatiana and Kaity had practiced their speech with Maddie all day, and with her help in reassuring the, the speech went as flawlessly as could be expected. The citizens of Silverbrook were still extremely upset about the loss of their beloved king and queen. They also still distrusted the new rulers, but accepted their presence well enough, because they knew and respected Maddie. She was the one high ranking official they felt they could still trust.

When the speech ended it was met with silence except for a few scattered claps. Once inside, they shut the door and let out a collective sigh of relief. "Well, they didn't have torches and pitchforks," Tatiana states, "That has to be a good sing, right?"

There was a moment where they just stared at each other before the three teens burst out laughing. The absurdity of the situation seemed to finally dawn on them.

"Oh, what the people must have thought! Three teenage girls ruling one of the most powerful kingdoms in the land!" Maddie held her sides as she doubled over in a fit of giggles. "And two of them are the feared and mysterious assassins of the king and queen!"

At that statement the laughter died out. The guilt on the other two's faces was apparent. The counselor searched for something to say to lighten the mood, wishing she could take the last statement back.

"Sorry, I, Oh! There is something that I must show you. Quickly, come with me, but you must promise not to let a _soul_ find it." She led them down twisting halls and through more rooms than they could keep track of. Finally they descended into a small storage room in the basement.

"Because you know of the deadly secrets this land hold, you can enter this room. But be warned; this knowledge comes with terrible responsibility and danger," she cautioned as she felt her way along the bottom of the back wall. After shifting her hand behind some dusty cleaning supplies, she let out a small whoop of victory. She tugged upward on an unseen lever with all of her might and a loud creak was heard. Dust fell from a rectangular doorframe around the handle.

"Sorry, I haven't opened this in a few years. The king forced to keep out after that happened three years ago. I'm sure you have heard of it? A group of soldiers that were banned from our lands because they were plotting against the king?" Madelyn questioned as they crawled into the small hole behind the hidden door. It gradually got taller and taller until they could walk upright.

"Well it wasn't an uprising in the ranks. A patrolling group accidentally heard part of what was going on. They confronted the king and were thrown out to silence them. They would have been executed but the king thought that it would cause more suspicion and questions of what really happened. You know, some people say that they are still living out in the woods, despite the dangers. The stuff in this room can tell you more about the specifics, though. Here we are then, my father's secret quarters."

Maddie gestured with flourish… to a pitch black room. She frowned at their confusion before she turned around with a soft "Ah, right." She grabbed an unlit torch from the wall and a piece of flint that hung beside it. After the torch was lit, she slowly walked the perimeter of the room, lighting other torches and candles as she went.

Once lighted, the large room revealed huge book cases lining two adjacent walls. Hundreds of books lined the shelves and sat strewn about on tables and chairs, of which there were many. Two open walls were full of papers. Maps, pictures, and notes filled ever open inch of the space. "So, what do you think then?" Maddie asked, waving her arms around to emphasize the beauty around them.

Tatiana started as if shaken out of her thoughts. A huge grin spread across her face as she began to bounce up and down. "It's it's, it's _wonderful!_ It's like a whole other world in here with dragons and magic and all sort of cool stuff!" She continued to hop around in glee and glanced over all of the papers and books splayed around. "Look at all these old books on history and legends and magic and creatures, oh its wonderful!"

Kaity was happy to see Tatiana so happy, but knew what was coming next. She made eye contact with Maddie who seemed to understand the silent question. Tatiana stopped for a moment and hurried back over to them. She opened her mouth as if she was going to say something, closed it, and then opened it again. Finally she spoke, "So, where's the stuff on the Forbidden?"

Maddie pointed to the back of the room, where there was endless papers but hardly any books open on a few tables. They headed over to them and stared at the chaos. There was absolutely no order to the papers, and many of them appeared to be illegible or covered in scribbles. It looked like a mad man's workspace, which it very well could have been. Maddie opened one of the few books on the table that they were at. She leafed through the pages until she found a place that satisfied her. "Here, read this," she murmured, "It might clear up some things."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The Forbidden, a brief explanation.

Many years ago, before even I was born, there was magic in this land. Our beloved kingdoms bustled trough their lives with magic doing the same right alongside. There were sorcerers and healers that infused their herbs with healing spells. Normal citizens could hold the power of magic and taught it to their children. But as all fables go, the good times did not last. A secret group of people worked in secret to make their powers stronger. They wanted to take down the rulers of Silverbrook, the strongest magic infused kingdom.

They called themselves the Forbidden, for they had been cast out from the magic community for their abuse of power. Authorities had ripped their magic away from them and sent them to the lowest rungs of society. They sat there in hiding, regaining their powers and making them stronger than ever before. The Forbidden had horrible ways of obtaining all of the dark magic information they could find. As whispers turned to murmurs, and murmurs to fear, their numbers grew to over two thousand. They came from across the lands and plotted their attack.

It was on the night of the princess' birthday that they struck in Silverbrook. Sending fire and shadow crashing through the streets of town, they made their way quickly to the castle. With ease, the masses broke through the gates and stormed into the celebration in a flurry of destruction.

The princess was said to have been the first to fall, though that is simply a rumor. No one in the castle that night made it out alive. The castle itself was hardly standing. Guards had alerted the army and soon after they all arrived on the horrific scene. There was a long and hard battle, but the army greatly outnumbered the Forbidden. Hundreds of the Forbidden died that night, and even more of the army. In the end however, the army prevailed and the remaining Forbidden were detained and their magic once again taken away.

The kingdom was sure to fall into oblivion if something wasn't done immediately. Thinking fast, the remaining guards decided that the bravest heroes of that night would take over as the highest ranking people of power, because surely they were worthy of such an award. This is when the Windsor line began with King Henry Windsor. The line has been intact ever since, as has the castle after repairs finished.

Although most believe that all of the dark mages were captured that day, many think that they are still out there, growing stronger and waiting for the moment to strike. Because many of the rulers of different kingdoms wanted to prevent this from ever happening again, they banned use of all magic. Anyone seen practicing the hated art was to be banished immediately, and all records of people using it were to be destroyed. The mad ruler of Moorfield declared that all magic was bad, and that people just disguised it as good so they could practice and grow stronger. He convinced several other leaders of this, so the pact was sealed. No magic under any circumstances, and there will be no trace of it. All of their citizens were ordered to never speak of it again. Their idea was that if their children never knew it had existed out of fairytales, then they would never attempt to use its evil power once more.

The queen of Silverbrook didn't agree with this, however. While the king was confiscating all of the information on magic to have it burned, she stole any piece back that she could get without him noticing. She had some of the architects create a secret room in the basement to hide her illegal treasure. They complied, and soon she had a small library of the last remaining magic known to man. The dear queen took full responsibility of gathering any remaining scrolls or spell books that remained in Silverbrook over time. She couldn't save them all; the king would grow suspicious, but she took what she could.

The king never found out about her secret room, and no one else knew of what lay down there until the queen lay on her death bed. She called for the counselor to meet with her in private. She whispered into the young man's ear what lay behind the storage room in the basement. He had been too young to remember magic beyond what he read in story books, you see. He thought that the poor queen was senile, and tried to assure her that magic had never really existed. Still, he agreed to tell no one but a single person that he could trust to pass the information on to before he passed.

The counselor, although doubtful that anything lay down there, still went to the basement to see if she really did have any secret place down there. He found the storage closet and saw an odd shape in the wall. He pried it open and found a secret entrance. Once he found the books, he became obsessed with magic. He gave up his position to spend every day scouring scrolls and books for more information, more proof of its existence. He knew that his mind was going, so he passed it on to the son of the new counselor before hanging himself in the courtyard. The secret has passed on from father to son to daughter and so on through the line of counselors ever since. Of course, a few others have found out, whether it be someone's wife, or a servant, or the king and queen themselves. A few of the most royal people keep the secret hidden but alive. No one is quite sure what to do with the information yet, but I hear that the king is thinking that a decision should be made…


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"This account of what happened was written by my father. It stops just before those soldiers were banished. My father told me that the king's decision was to send out a few search parties to find any news about the Forbidden and remaining pockets of magic. He wanted to banish magic from the world once and for all. He kept saying that it was for the good of the people, but if he did then why did he send those soldiers away for simply asking what was going on?" Maddie's question was left unanswered as Tatiana and Kaity processed all of the new information.

"God, I knew that magic existed and that the Forbidden were supposed to have some remaining dark magic users, but all of this…" Kaity breathed. It was nearly impossible to think of what they had gotten themselves into. The only person who might have had even the slightest clue about where any remaining magic could be was now dead because of them. They had basically shoved themselves into a dead end and only now knew that they had done the completely wrong thing.

Kaity and Maddie seemed to collapse inward as the impossibilities stretched out around them. "I don't even know what we were hoping to accomplish, I guess I hoped that once the information was open to me I could figure out where to go from there. I thought it was a straightforward case of all of the officials being douches to the people. I don't even know what to make of this centuries-long shitstorm," Kaity dropped her head onto the table and let out a frustrated yell.

Maddie put a hand on her back and glanced sideways at Tati, "You guys knew more than most ever will. You both had a noble goal to help everyone. You did the best you could, but you see know why nothing good had been done; there just doesn't appear to be anything good that we _can_ do."

Despite the others' pessimism, Tatiana was flipping through the small book some more. She seemed determined to find _something_, what that was remained to be seen. After shoving more papers around and off the desk in an erratic fashion, she finally yelled out, "Aha!" and triumphantly held open a scroll for the others to see. "But you see, there is something we can do!" She exclaimed, looking rather proud of herself.

The scroll talked about the soldiers who were cast out. It explained that one soldier had heard, and told the rest of their group. Deciding that it had to be discussed with the king in case they could help, they entered the room. The king had been furious, driven crazy with the need to get rid of all magic. He had supposedly thrown them out into the deep woods beyond the land so he could "leave them to the monsters". The person who had written the scroll wasn't exactly sure where it was, but there was a vague map on the right side of the paper showing approximately where they had been taken.

Maddie stared at the map with such intense focus that Kaity thought her eyes might pop out and stick right to the page. The counselor promptly left and came back with a handful of maps. She set a few out on the table and picked up the scroll, laying it down and comparing it to the other maps. Kaity and Tatiana peered in as she expertly decoded each map and what the drawn one could possibly be on each one. At last, she set it against an old and tattered one. It was obvious to all of the teens just where the map lead, and they didn't like it.

"The Dark Wood, of course. It couldn't have been in another kingdom or the big forest near the sea…" Maddie seemed almost exasperated with the king's choice of placement for the soldiers.

Tatiana seemed either blissfully unaware of the forest, or just elated that they now had a plan of action. None of them had said it out loud, but they all knew what was going to happen. They were going to have to go into the Dark Wood and pray every step of the way that the soldiers were still alive there, and pray that they themselves would make it back out afterward.

It took some careful planning to figure out how their plan to leave would even be possible. They had only been ruling for about a week, had done little to reassure the citizens that they are fit for the role, and now they and the counselor were leaving? Maddie decided that since the castle was still almost entirely cut off from Silverbrook, they didn't have to publically state that they were leaving. Maddie set up a meeting with the royal guards to make sure that they had a basic understanding of what to do while the three of them were gone. Just getting to the forest would take several days, and who knew how long it would take them to find the missing soldiers. This in itself was balancing on the hope that the soldiers were actually there, and still alive.

They figured that if the soldiers had gone to a city, even in another kingdom, that Silverbrook would have been informed. The king had sent out messages to the other rulers that if anyone saw the soldiers, that they should send them to the king immediately. In the three years since the incident there had been no word of it, so seemed safe to assume that they were in those woods, dead or alive.

Tatiana and Kaity had new clothes delivered to them that were fit for travel. They also all received a sword, although neither Kaity nor Tatiana really knew how to use it.

As soon as the maids had given the teens all of the supplies that they would need for their quest, they set off on horseback out of the castle gates. They left under the shadow of night to avoid being recognized by any citizens. The guards around the city had been warned not to stop them, and simply nodded as they raced by.

Not much had been brought with them, as they had to carry all of their equipment themselves. Other than a change of clothes and some food, their backpacks contained only basic first aid and any books or papers that they thought would be beneficial. They wore dark cloaks over their clothes to be more camouflaged when they would be on foot in the woods. They also had their swords strapped to their sides; Tatiana's and Maddie's to their left, and Kaity's to her right for ease of access if they should have to use them.

At night they tied the horses to trees and camped out by the dying light of a campfire. One of them would be on watch duty at all times to make sure no wildlife decided that the teens or their horses were a tasty meal.

It was the third day while trotting along that Kaity asked a terrifying question. "Do you think the king put them in the Dark Wood because he thought that the Forbidden were in there?"

Tatiana stared at her in horror, "Why in the _hell_ would you ask that an hour away from entering the woods!?" Kaity shrugged and gave her a wolfish grin. She opened her mouth to make what was sure to be a sarcastic answer when Maddie interrupted her.

"That's highly improbable," she snorted, "Don't you think they would have killed the Forbidden if they had thought they were in there?"

"Well maybe they just couldn't _find_ them," Kaity laughed. Maddie carefully slowed her horse down until she rode side by side with Kaity, then moved a bit closer. She stared at the still grinning teen with a deadpan expression before slowly leaning over and slapping her on the back of the head. Now it was Maddie's turn to laugh as she rode back up to the front

Despite Maddie's confidence that the only people in those woods would be their missing soldiers, Tatiana continued to think about the possibility as the forest loomed ever closer.

When at last they stood in front of the first trees of the Dark Wood, none of them knew what to say. Finally, Kaity said the only thing she could think of, "Fuckin' creepy ass forest, init?"

As if in response, a blood curdling shriek came from inside the woods. It was too dark to make out what monster had dried out, but Maddie could swear that she saw a pair of glowing yellow eyes glaring back at her. Unnerved, to say the least, they got off of their horses and hefted their bags onto their backs. After giving soft goodbyes to the horses, they let them gallop back towards the castle. "I envy those horses. Dense forest is such a lame excuse for them to not have to come," Tatiana sighed.

"Hey if you want to navigate those massive beasts around every single tree in there, be my guest. But they are gonna slow us down and be useful in a fight, so we might as well keep them from being slaughtered if we can."

The teens cautiously took the first few steps into the Dark Wood. They were hyperaware of every noise and movement around them, tripping over roots and huddling together the whole way. They walked for several hours before they stopped for the night, or at least it seemed to be slightly darker than the shade that surrounded them at all times. A fire was out of the question because they didn't want to attract predators, so they ate their small meal in the pitch blackness. Nome of them knew where to even begin looking, so they didn't discuss it. After silently setting up a measly shelter, they settled down for the night.

Kaity and Tatiana shared a blanket and slept tangled together under it. It took many declarations of love and kisses for them to finally settle down enough to sleep. It took a long time for any of them to actually fall asleep, but they had still come to the decision that a guard would be pointless if no one could see. They also assumed that there wouldn't be any deep sleep while they were still in the woods, which was a valid assumption based on the 'sleep' they got. Every noise startled them awake and any rest they did get was filled with nightmares. There were several times hem one would wake up screaming, only to cause the other two to do the same.

When it was finally light enough to see their hands in front of their faces, the teens set out once more. They were exhausted and miserable after only one day, and didn't even want to think about how long they would have to spend in there. Occasionally, one of them would squint at a scroll, trying to find hints on good hiding places for several people. The reading was always in vain however, because just about no one had ever gone into the Dark Wood. You would have had to have been crazy to do so.

Four days into their searching through the endless trees, they had run out of food. In was pretty much impossible to hunt, seeing as it was rare to catch more than a fleeting blur of motion, much less see an animal. There were few edible plants that they knew, and even fewer that they actually found in the woods. Besides the trees and some low growing ferns, the forest mostly contained various fungi on every tree trunk and rock.

Now adding starving and thirsty to their list of problems, the royals shuffled through the woods at an ever slowing pace. They argued often, and in between fits it was stony silence. They had lost hope and had no idea where they had come from. Maddie had been setting up stick patterns when they slept so they would know what direction they had come from the night before, but the trees were too closely packed to walk in a straight line.

"We are gonna die in here. We are going to die lost and alone in these woods and nobody's ever going to find us. We will never find these soldiers because they are dead too just like we will be in a few days. This was stupid and going on is useless because we are going to die here." Kaity had been groaning like this all day on the sixth day and hardly took a breath to stop. Tatiana and Maddie had yelled at her multiple times to stop but after a while had quietly joined in in defeat. They had only been walking for about four hours, but sat down for the day anyway.

"I give up. I'm not searching for this lost cause anymore," Maddie stated tiredly. She lay down on the damp ground and fell asleep without even getting her blanket out of her bag. Kaity and Tatiana agreed and shoved Maddie's blanket over her sleeping form. They then curled up under theirs and fell asleep for what they feared could be the last time.

Several hours later, a piercing scream woke Tatiana and Kaity up. They scrambled over each other and fell back over in a heap as they tried to find the source of the noise. "Maddie! Maddie what was that? Maddie!?" Tatiana's shouts were left unanswered when they spotted the empty blanket beside them. There were no more screams, but the distant sound of a large object moving through the woods was heard. Without a second thought they grabbed their bags and took off with renewed strength towards what was hopefully their friend. "Hold on, we're coming!"


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

The couple raced through the woods, desperately trying to catch up to whatever had taken their friend. It was no use though, even with their adrenaline they were too weak to keep up. As the crashing noises faded away they stopped to catch their breath.

"What are we gonna do now? We lost her!" Tatiana cried out in frustration. Kaity shook her head, still trying to catch her breath enough to speak. Though much quieter now, they could still hear branches breaking. The two only glanced at each other before continuing in the direction once more, although at a much slower pace. They walked until they could no longer hear the noises, and it was too dark to see. They sat down under the branches of a tree, at a complete loss for what to do.

The sat there in stunned silence for a while, until a shout tore them out of their thoughts. "_Let go of me, you hideous freaks!"_ Maddie. Somewhere not too far ahead, she was still alive. They started in the direction they assumed they had been heading before, until a glimmer caught Kaity's eye.

"Is that…. Light?" She asks, grabbing Tatiana's arm to point it out to her. The shorter girl let out a yelp and dragged Kaity with her towards it. It had been days since they had seen any real light, and despite the obvious danger they had had an almost painful longing for it. Before they even got close enough to see it, they were both tackled to the ground. Hard.

Tatiana and Kaity lay wheezing as huge paws sat heavily on their chests. Claws poked dangerously close to their necks. Two huge, black cats were pinning them down, snarling. A third, even bigger one stood behind them, watching the teens with glowing yellow eyes. The cats were lit from behind by what appeared to be a large bonfire. They gaped at the creatures with glared down at them. The one the seemed to be the leader padded up between them and bent down, sniffing the teens carefully. It let out a low growl and turned away, heading slowly back to the lit clearing. It returned a minute later with a humanoid creature following cautiously behind.

Tatiana and Kaity guessed it was human, but it had long, draping robes in earthy colors that hid most of its body. Its face was covered in the same material, and everything flowed as it walked, giving it a wraith-like appearance. Once the person and cat stopped, the person began studying the duo, or at least they thought it was because they couldn't actually see its face. For what seemed to them like hours, they just stared back at each other. The cats holding them down seemed to grow impatient and began flexing their claws in and out while staring pleadingly at the human. One let out a yowl of frustration and the other bounced slightly up and down in its front paws. Silently, the person held up one hand and they immediately froze. They made a waving motion with their hand and the cats bowed their heads, all three going back the way they came. Kaity and Tatiana sat up, now that they were able to. Staring at the human, Kaity opened her mouth to speak. They let out a low growl and leaned forward, revealing teeth bared in anger. She shut her mouth and quickly scooted back over to her girlfriend.

"_You are with the other," _He rasped softly.

"Maddie!" Tatiana practically yells. "Yes! Yes, we are with her! Do you have her? Is she okay? If you hurt her I'll cut off your testicles. Oh god, can we see her? Please tell me you aren't going to kill and possibly eat all of us…"

The man once again raised his hand, and she stopped talking. He paused for a few moments as if thinking over his answer before he slowly removed his hood. The man appeared to be in his late twenties, with a stubbly beard and messy brown hair. His face remained expressionless for only a moment before a crooked grin broke out. He let out a scratchy chuckle that sounded more like a cough than anything. "_I like you, so yes, your friend remains unharmed. You are humans as well, are you not? Come." _He beckoned for them to follow, so they did.

Not far off they entered the clearing. They were right in guessing that it was in fact a large bonfire lighting it from the center, but they couldn't have imagined what else was there. It appeared to be a small village surrounding the perimeter of the open field. Small huts and shelters sat around the edge, and around ten people were milling about around the fire. They cooked and chatted and sewed, but all froze when the man led Kaity and Tatiana by them. The group of people stared at them as they entered a slightly larger hut.

Inside, it was dark safe for one small torch. There were four men inside. One was speaking softly to a teenage girl that the other three were restraining. Upon their entry, the men turned around and the girl went practically insane. She screamed out her friends' names in alarm and fought so hard and erratically that she actually managed to break loose while they were distracted by the newcomers. She rushed forward and embraced them, shouting about how these freaks had captured her and wanted to kill her and now that all three of them were there they would all die together. She was forcefully pulled back down onto the tree stump by the angry men, but the brown haired man shook his head.

"_She is a friend. These two hold the mark of Silverbrook's royalty, and she travels with them. These humans have been thrown out of the kingdom too, it seems. In which case they are one of us now."_

The guards let go of the counselor, and she stood in front of the man. "You're the missing soldiers, aren't you? We haven't been thrown out, we came _looking for you._ These are the kingdom's new rulers and I am their counselor. We were so afraid that we wouldn't find you, but now we have!"

The man that had been talking to Maddie before the others arrived chuckled, "Well actually, I believe _we _found _you_, darling." She blushed lightly and nodded. They had been so determined to find these people, but now that they had, the trio had no idea what to say. The brown haired man seemed to sense their flustered urgency, and held out a hand to shake.

"_I am Michael. You were brave to search for us here. What do you seek?"_ Tatiana shook his hand and finally found her words.

"I'm Tatiana, and this is Kaity and Maddie. We came to look for you hoping that you could uh, help us with learning more about magic and the Forbidden?" It comes out more like a question as se peers up at Michael hopefully. His face turns ashen and without a word takes her by the arm and practically drags her back out of the hut. The other two followed close behind, and angry shouting erupted behind then.

Michael led then around the building into the trees. "_You never speak of these things in this place, you understand? We try so hard to forget our past and move on. If you really wish to know more, there is one person who would be willing to tell you, but I will warn you now. She is not the most… sane person you have ever met. Sometimes she is fierce like the warrior she was, and sometimes it's like trying to deal with a six year old." _He bent down to eye level as best he could with the varying heights of the girls. He then pointed across the field and beyond the fire. "_There, do not go through the clearing. I will calm the other soldiers, you just go talk to her. Find me when you are done, and I can help you then. Her name is Allyson, she will be just past the border of trees around now."_

With that, they took off, skirting the clearing and staying well away from the three large cats that lay near the fire. Once at the other side, they readjusted to the darkness and began looking for the girl. "I can't believe they are actually here. How did they find us? How did we _actually_ find them!?" Kaity asks in disbelief. The girls don't answer when they see a hunched over figure up ahead.

She appeared to be talking to herself as she rocked back and forth on her heels. They walked quietly, not wanting to startle her. The small group was twenty feet away when she srung up and spun around to face them. Allyson was not what they had expected at all: she was about their age with wild blonde and brown hair. Her most startling feature was what she held in her hands though, as clutched between her fingers was a frantic squirrel. Allyson's head cocked to one side before she yet out a yelp. She threw the animal over one shoulder and grabbed Tatiana by the shoulders. "You're a ruler of Silverbrook! Are you here to kill us all? Banish once more? Huh? _Huh?_" She shook the poor teen so hard that she nearly fell over.

"No, actually we want you to help us," Maddie said, trying to pry her fingers away from the shorter blonde. "Would you want to help us learn more about magic? And maybe the Forbidden?" Ally's eyes went wide, and for a moment they thought she would get angry like the others had. Instead, she looked them all up and down, face twisted in an emotion that they couldn't name.

Finally, she gave her answer, "You guys look half starved. Want some deer stew?"


End file.
